Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Global Production Networks, Relational Proximity, And The Sociospatial Dynamics Of Market Internationalization In Bolivia's Wood Products Sector, James T. Murphy

Geography

This article advances conceptualizations of global production networks (GPNs) through an analysis of the relational processes that firms in Bolivia's growing wood products industry use to build ties to international markets. Both large- and small-scale manufacturers are increasingly internationalizing their operations in response to the global demand for tropical hardwoods and decentralization of control over the country's forest resources. These firms use four different types of production networks and networking practices to develop international market ties. Each of these networks is distinguishable by its entry barriers, value-creation possibilities, upgrading strategies, and the cognitive, social, and cultural factors that influence who …

Accelerating Anthropogenic Land Surface Change And The Status Of Pleistocene Drumlins In New England, Deborah W. Woodcock, John S. Rogan, Samuel D. Blanchard

Geography

Drumlins are glacially derived landforms that are prominent in the landscape over much of southern New England. We carried out a comprehensive ground-based survey in a three-town study area in eastern Massachusetts with the goals of establishing the extent to drumlins have been altered and assessing the associated environmental consequences and probable driving factors. Results show that many drumlins have been significantly altered through levelling and truncation (creation of steep cut and fill slopes), with projects involving movement of 1-1.5×106 m3 of earth materials not now uncommon. Stormwater and wetlands infractions were documented at all the larger excavation sites and …

Error Propagation In Raster Data Integration: Impacts On Landscape Composition And Configuration, Zachary J. Christman, John Rogan

Geography

Integrating raster-based categorical maps from multiple sources necessitates the transformation of geometric characteristics to compare maps, as in land change analyses. By projecting maps to a new geographic reference framework and scaling pixel values to a new size, distortions of map information are introduced that can affect the proportion and arrangement of thematic classes across the landscape. Using a sample land cover dataset depicting a heterogeneous landscape, this paper examines these impacts using three common raster-based transformation methods and introduces a new vector-based method that minimizes error propagation. While relative class area was best preserved by a nearest-neighbor resampling method, …

The Influence Of Digital Communication On Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Melissa J. Dagel

Graduate Research Papers

Digital communications are profoundly influencing young adult communications; yet little is known about how novels that use digital communications such as text messages, e-mails, or blogs as the voice and point of view. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to analyze how select young adult novels portray digital communications themes using the following research questions: What digital communication themes are portrayed in young adult literature that use digital communication as the voice and point of view? In what ways are the digital communication themes developed in these young adult novels? In what ways might these themes inspire young …

Multicultural Picture Books: Windows And Mirrors, Dawn M. Goodale

Graduate Research Papers

Multicultural children’s picture books offer readers views into far away places that can be similar or very different from that of the reader. These picture books can be used to enhance the Social Studies curriculum by offering students new perspectives on other cultures. The researcher employed the five dimensions of global perspectives developed by Robert G. Hanvey (1976) and criteria from the Iowa Core Curriculum Social Studies Standards (grades 3-5), to determine the titles that best exemplified the criteria. Review of related literature included the topics of multicultural education, multicultural literature and reader-text-relationships. The project consists of an annotated bibliography …

School Library Circulation Records: What Do They Reveal About Boys' Reading Preferences?, Chelsea Sims

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to examine what if any patterns emerge in the library checkout habits of elementary school age boys in consecutive grades and to compare them to common assumptions of which books boys prefer to read. A quantitative bibliometric method was used to analyze and count the circulation records of forty-four students over a three year period. The circulations to the boys in the study were compared to the circulations to the girls. Records revealed that on average, boys in third grade borrowed more books than the girls in the study, but girls selected more books …

Teens Read Book Trailers, Jill Besler

Graduate Research Papers

The Teens Read website was developed as a tool for middle and high school students to use when making book selections. The website features award books from YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, YALSA Teen’s Top Ten, Iowa Teen Award, and Iowa High School book lists. Book trailers are embedded on each page to promote the books as well as an embedded preview for students to get a sneak-peak of the book before selection.

Association Between C-Reactive Protein And Cognitive Deficits In Elderly Men And Women: A Meta-Analysis, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges, Thomas J. Farrer

Faculty Publications

Abstract

Background: Certain risk factors for cognitive decline appear modifiable. A potentially modifiable marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein may be associated with cognitive deficits, although not all studies have found a relationship between C-reactive protein and cognitive ability. Further, few research papers have examined whether gender may affect any association between C-reactive protein and cognitive deficit.

Methods: To better understand the association between C-reactive protein, cognitive deficit, and gender in elderly people, we meta-analyzed cross-sectional studies that reported cognitive ability assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination or an equivalent measure, C-reactive protein concentrations, and gender.

Results: While we identified no …

Forgiveness And Relationship Satisfaction: Mediating Mechanisms, Scott R. Braithwaite, Edward A. Selby, Frank D. Fincham

Faculty Publications

Although the ability to forgive transgressions has been linked to overall relationship satisfaction, the mechanisms that mediate this association have not been established. We propose that the tendency to forgive a romantic partner increases relationship satisfaction via increased relational effort and decreased negative conflict. In two studies, we used structural equations modeling to examine these variables as potential mechanisms that drive this association. In Study 1 (N = 523) and Study 2 (N = 446) we found that these variables significantly mediated the association between forgiveness and relationship satisfaction. The findings were robust when examined concurrently and longitudinally, across multiple …

A Proposal For A Feasible, First-Step, Legislative Agenda For Divorce Reform, Alan J. Hawkins

Faculty Publications

American sociologist Andrew Cherlin argues that the institutional boundaries of marriage have shrunk; marriage no longer effectively governs intimate associations before marriage, or structures "proper" pathways to the desired goal of healthy, stable marriage. Personal development and individual emotions are at the core of modern marriage, rather than societal expectations and religious and civil norms. Accordingly, marriages are held together now by internal, psychological forces rather than external, societal forces, and these bonds are substantially weaker. As a result, divorce is common, with about half ending within twenty years; second marriages have even higher rates of disruption. While the divorce …

Asking School Psychologists How Job Satisfaction Can Be Increased, Justin S. Janssen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

School psychology faces retention issues due to a current and projected shortage of school psychologists and the large number of baby boomers getting ready to retire. Meeting this need becomes vital in order to prevent negative effects of the shortage from continuing. Research has supported a link between job satisfaction and retention in the school psychology research as well as in job satisfaction research in general. Much of the current literature on the job satisfaction of school psychologists, however, focuses only on the identification of correlates with job satisfaction and largely avoids asking practitioners how their job satisfaction can be …

Circulating And Organizational Testosterone And The Perception Of Dominance, Jon C. Pedersen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This project focused on the relationship between both circulating testosterone (T), prenatal exposure to T, and perception of emotions in the faces of others. Based on past research, Twas hypothesized to be related to the Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, which are concerned with reading emotions and intentions of others. More specifically, T was hypothesized to be more strongly related to the perception of dominant emotions compared to the perception of non-dominant emotions. To test this idea, the Test of the Eyes was used, which measures the ability to correctly perceive emotions in pictures of faces (specifically, eyes). To date, …

Strategic Communication In Women's Rights Organizations: Tools, Challenges And Best Practices, Anastasia Kalinina

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Despite rapid globalization and tremendous expansion of the number of women's rights organizations, international attention to the issues of women and girls remains rather low. While some women's rights networks and organizations leap to prominence, others do not receive recognition and public support. I wanted to know why. I interviewed 13 directors and communication managers of women's rights non-governmental organizations to see how they manage communication. I used a convenience sample that included a wide range of geographical locations and sizes of NGOs. The interviews were held via Skype. I conducted a theme analysis of transcribed interviews. The participants indicated …

Self-Defeating Behaviors In Sexual Offenders: Exploring Factors Of Social Support And Motivation To Change, Cassie Rose Nieman

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Sexual offenders often engage in self-defeating behaviors that affect their treatment progress. Self-defeating behaviors are those that are dynamic in nature and change over time throughout the course of treatment. Certain aspects of an offender's life may play a role in whether and how often these behaviors occur, such as the level of social support on which the offender can rely. A second factor is the degree of motivation an offender has to change his behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how the factors of social support systems and motivation to change impact self-defeating behaviors. …

Making A Way: Music In An African American Congregation, Emily Miller-Todd

Honors Program Theses

When I began brainstorming ideas for my research, I was initially drawn towards a general study of music's role in church settings. As a music major and religion minor, this topic appeared to be the most obvious way I could combine my interests and apply them to a research project. Broadly speaking, I was interested in describing the role of music in a worship setting and the meaning members of the congregation found in music. In addition, I wanted to develop a research project that allowed me a more thoroughly experiential understanding of music in a congregation through personal participation …

Cognitive Maps And The Confidence-Accuracy Relation In Eyewitness Identification, Hannah Mazoe Paul

Honors Program Theses

Cognitive maps are map-like representations of a spatial environment. Eyewitnesses are often asked to create a cognitive map of a crime scene so that it can be submitted as evidence in a criminal trial. Another key piece of evidence provided by an eyewitness is a description of the perpetrator which is used to acquire eyewitness identification. To the best of our knowledge, the correlation between cognitive maps and eyewitness identification has never been empirically investigated. The present study asserts the hypothesis that complex cognitive maps are positively correlated with correct eyewitness identifications. This hypothesis has been formulated off previous research …

From Strangers To Siblings: An Ethnography Of The Appalachia Service Project Summer Staffers, Rachel Elizabeth Tish

Honors Program Theses

Communication research has typically focused on relationship development in fairly regular, true-to-life settings; there is a lack of focus on friendships that grow out of situations in which people have no relational alternatives. This ethnographic study of the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) offers a contrast: observations, interviews, cultural artifacts, and researcher memories shed light on the friendship processes within various groups of four college-aged individuals who are assigned as work teams for 12 weeks. Together the members of these teams repair homes, oversee volunteers, and typically form relationships that reach a deeper level than most friendships. The study of how …

Effect Of Birth Order Placement On Tendency Toward General Deviance, Nichole Rae Reese

Honors Program Theses

Most of the research conducted on birth order placement has dealt with characteristics such as ambition, responsibility, leadership, athleticism, and so on. I focused my research on the effect of birth order placement on a tendency toward committing general deviant acts. I reviewed and analyzed previous research regarding this topic conducted by researchers and social scientists. I then conducted my own research study by administering a general deviance questionnaire to forty University of Northern Iowa students. After analyzing the survey results using the data analysis program, SPSS, I found that my hypothesis of firstborn individuals committing less general deviant acts …

Family Matters: Influential Factors Of Choice Regarding The Family-Career Dichotomy For The Next Generation Of Mothers, Beth Lindberg

Honors Program Theses

This study was performed for an undergraduate thesis project for a university honor's program. The thesis project sought to discover female college students' viewpoints on stay-at-home mothering and various influences on said viewpoints through the administration of a survey to college women. Various statistical tests, such as t-test, chi-square, correlation, and regression tests, were completed to analyze the data. From this data, it was found that most participants in the study had positive, socially constructed, stereotypical viewpoints of stay-at-home mothers. Three influences were found to be unique predictors for the choice to plan to be a full-time stay-at-home mother: number …

Incorporating Effective Grammar Instruction Into The Classroom, Erin Mary Harrity

Honors Program Theses

The debate about the effectiveness of traditional grammar instruction has been ongoing for many decades now. Traditional grammar instruction involves memorization of grammatical rules and practice exercise drills. As early as 1936, the Curriculum Commission of the National Council of Teachers of English stated that “‘all teaching of grammar separate from the manipulation of sentences [should] be discontinued…since every scientific attempt to prove that knowledge of grammar is useful has failed’” (Weaver, Teaching 9). So why is grammar still being taught in the same way-through traditional direct instruction-in many schools? It is because some parents, administrators, politicians, researchers, and teachers …

Perceptions Of "Americanism": U.S. High School Students' Attitudes Towards Non-Standard English Accents, Christina Michelle Goering

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify the extent to which U.S. high school students perceive various English accents as being part of their American community or not and to further investigate how likely these high school students are to socialize with speakers of the varying English accents.

Class-Ifying London: Questioning Social Division And Space Claims In The Post-Industrial Metropolis, Mark Davidson, Elvin Wyly

Geography

Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class of 2002 ends with a clarion call for a post-industrial, post-class sensibility: 'The task of building a truly creative society is not a game of solitaire. This game, we play as a team.' Florida's sentiment has been echoed across a broad and interdisciplinary literature in social theory and public policy, producing a new conventional wisdom: that class antagonisms are redundant in today's climate of competitive professionalism and a dominant creative mainstream. Questions of social justice are thus deflected by reassurances that there is no 'I' in team, and that 'we' must always be …

Professional Development For The Library Para Educator: Developing A Guide To Answer Questions About School Libraries In The 21st Century, Tifini Foglesong

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this project was to create a manual for new and existing library paraprofessionals as well as administrators who coordinate teacher librarian professional inservice days. This information will provide content for library paraprofessionals to understand both the procedures and principles of school libraries.

The Secret Life Of The American Teenager And Its Implicit Sexual Consequences: A Content Analysis, Olivia Lynn Egen

Honors Program Theses

My content analysis of The Secret Life of the American Teenager contributes information on the physical consequences of sexual acts to studies already conducted from content analyses of today's popular television shows. It also makes a contribution to the existing research because no one has studied this particular show. Because it is aired on a 'family network', it is specifically geared toward teens in a way other programs that have been studied have not been. The present research centers on the sexual acts of main characters, safe sex practices, types of sexual acts, gender of characters participating in these sexual …

Women's Status And Fertility Rates : Results From National Level Data, Jason Thomas Surratt

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The rapid increase in human population makes the study of fertility rates an area of imminent concern. Understanding the relationship between women's status and fertility rates is important because providing women with access to adequate health services, educational opportunities, occupational opportunities, and political power will give them greater control over their lives. With increased control over their lives women are more likely to limit the number of children they have to their desired amount as they gain access to the resources to limit child bearing and to find fulfillment in other areas of their lives. This study contributes to the …

Role Strain In Probation And Parole Work And Strategies Used To Reduce Strain, Samantha A. Shoger

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Probation and parole officers play a vital role in the operation of the correctional system. As a part of their role work in community-based corrections, probation and parole officers must act as both a client monitor and treatment counselor to not only assist in client reentry, but also to protect the public. Due to the nature of probation and parole work and the historical changes that have affected their work (i.e. the punitive turn, the New Penology, and the current correctional budgetary constraints), probation and parole officers must cope with a variety of factors in their work that can cause …

The Effects Of Interpersonal Violent Imagery Upon Short Term Memory Recall, Stacilyn Chananie-Hill

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In today's world media are omnipresent. Over the last decade an individual's exposure to media has increased at an exponential rate. Additionally, the levels of violence in media available for public consumption have also increased. A good deal of research has been conducted on media violence, television violence, televised sexual content and amount of television watched by those in their respective studies. Researchers are beginning to understand that exposure to violent media is associated with problematic memory recall. Given that most individuals that live in homes in first world countries are consistently exposed to multiple media sources it is of …

Low Frequency Temperature Variability And Native American Horticulture In The Northern Southwest And Eastern Great Basin, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Recent paleoclimatic studies reconstruct low-frequency variability in temperature that may have affected the success of Native American horticulture. Potential effects of this temperature variability include shifts in the range of elevations within which horticulture was viable, and changes in the northern limits of horticulture- based economies. This paper examines radiocarbon dates and other chronological data from Fremont and Puebloan sites in Utah, eastern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, comparing the low-frequency temperature reconstructions with the timing of expansion and contraction in the northern frontier of maize horticulture and temporal shifts in the elevations of farming settlements.

Using Positive Behavior Instructional Support (Pbis) In Early Childhood, Megan Merkel

Graduate Research Papers

Challenging behaviors in early childhood education are becoming recognized as a serious barrier to social-emotional development and an indication of severe maladjustment in school and adult life. Educational professionals have been seeking to define, elaborate, and improve on existing knowledge related to the prevention and resolution of young children's challenging behaviors. The current literature review was conducted to describe the relationship between children's challenging behavior and implementing Positive Behavior Instructional Support (PBIS) and Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) in early childhood classrooms and programs. In addition, this review presents conclusions, recommendations, suggested educational policies, and needed future research.

Parental Perspective On Technology Integration In Pk-2 In A Rural Community School, Stephanie L. Callan

Graduate Research Papers

This study investigated parental perspectives of PK-2 classroom technology integration and parental familiarity with 21st Century Skills and their importance in their children's education and future success in a global economy. Through this descriptive study the researcher used mixed-methods of a survey and semi-structured interview to gather information from parents in a small, rural school in southeastern Iowa. The research found that parents of this age group do place value on technology integration as it relates to both their children's academic and future success. Most parents of this age group working outside of an educational setting were unaware of what …